Four months after he anounced plans to jump ship, Howie Carr is returning to his afternoon drive show on WRKO-AM tomorrow, the station plans to anounce later today.

We are thrilled that Howie is back on WRKO, said Entercom New England Vice President and Market Manager Julie Kahn in a press release. Howie is a one-of-a-kind talent, and Im sure all of Howies listeners are looking forward to hearing him on our air again.

Carrs new contract with WRKO runs through 2012. He returns to his 3 to 7 p.m. slot.

Im very happy to be reunited with my loyal listeners on WRKO, said Carr in the release. I said Id be back on the air before Imus and now I am!

WTKK said in a statement that they are disappointed and strongly disagree with the judge whose decisions blocked Carr from jumping ship.

We are disappointed that Howie Carr will not be able to join WTKK at this time, but we fully support him in his decision to return to work at WRKO, the station said in a statement released moments ago.

While we strongly disagree with Judge Van Gestels decisions, which forced Howie to choose between working for WRKO or being unemployed for five years, we have always said that we would abide by the ruling of the court. To pursue what would likely have been a very long appeal with an uncertain outcome would have been counter-productive for Howie and his loyal listeners. Howie also has his family to think about; anyone in his position would make the same decision. It is time to move forward. We wish him all the best.

WTKK had offered Carr a five-year deal to host their morning-drive show. The bonus-based contract would have allowed Carr to earn up to $7 million, an offer WRKO later matched.

Holy crap, I really didn’t think he’d show up tomorrow for just one day, and what the hell was Avi Nelson talking about filling in for Howie next week? According to Nelson he would be in three days next week for Howie,,,,,Howie still has vacation time???

I’m not surprised, given the dearth of alternatives he was left with. I do hope that Kahn & Wolff will have the decency not to gloat over their victory. In any case, it will be good to have Howie back on the air!

Hopefully soon!
Todd probably WILL mention this today...boy am I relieved
to be able to hear Howie again though I feel bad for HC;
despite whatever pay he’ll get, he has to work with
Coffee Boy (Jason “Hokey” Wolfe), The Empress (Julie
Kaaaaaaaaaaaahn!), and alongside Felon Finneran.
Howie is the only real bat in the ‘RKO lineup...

...and the Sox (who open the ‘08 season in Japan) are
a long winter away...

It’s good for me—afternoons are my free time as I work
a night shift (I hear Howie’s 5 pm hour on the way to
work and 6 pm hour at work.)

This means more Red Sox pre-emptions come baseball season
but remember that ‘RKO shifts the Sox to WEEI for
afternoon games (not sure about spring training though).
But Howie’s last half hour should be gone a lot due
to 7 pm starts/6:30 pre-game.

For Howie fans in Metro-west or any area west of
Boston that has trouble picking up WRKO after sunday:
contact WCRN and ask them to put him back on! Even
if just for an hour or so...

In what is becoming a tradition, Kiko is making his pitch for mercy, not directly to the federal judge wholl be sentencing him in Febuary, but indirectly, through the local broadsheet.

Earlier this week it was Toby Kerns, the natural-born knucklehead who dreamed of turning Marshfield High into another Columbine. That loser threw himself on the mercy of the court of public opinion, and it worked, dammit.

Instead of 40 years, a bleeding-heart state judge gave Toby 10 months.

Now comes Kiko Pulido, who pleaded out last week to multiple felonies, including providing security for cocaine and heroin dealers who turned out to be undercover FBI agents. Among other sidelines, he bragged of selling the Social Security numbers of drivers he stopped, peddling steroids and dealing in stolen gift cards.

Kiko once asserted on tape that he had made certain his fellow bent cops understood that, If something goes bad and theyre at fault, somebody is going to pay, either with their life or their childrens lives.

Pretty cold, threatening to kill somebodys kids, but Kiko can explain everything. That wasnt him talking, it was the steroids he was hooked on. Kiko was just kidding.

And do you know whose fault it is that he committed all these crimes while on steroids?

Not Kikos, of course. No, he points the finger at the Boston Police Department. By phone from a New Hampshire jail, he told the broadsheet the BPD should have given him more help, and treatment, for his addiction.

Of course, when Kiko tested positive for cocaine in 1999, he claimed he was innocent. Kiko appealed his suspension, with the help of the Boston police union, whose president is Thomas Nee, who happens to be the father of Toby Kerns alleged co-conspirator in the Marshfield High massacre plot. Small world, isnt it?

But back to Kikos drug problems. At first he was angry that the BPD brass accused him of being a druggie. Now hes peeved at the same BPD brass for not getting him help for the addiction he loudly claimed he didnt have.

So lets go over some of the other reasons Kiko thinks he deserves a lenient sentence:
# He has two mortgages on his houses, plural, in Florida and Hyde Park.
# The feds made him pay 40 grand for his own lawyer - not fair!
# He likes to read his Bible and hes got God in his heart.
# He didnt father a child until he was 16.
# He only has six children, by three or four different women.
# At his first wedding, he insisted that the only beverages served were sparkling apple and grape juice.
# Kiko is such a trusting soul that when the informant who ratted him out got married last year, Kiko was not only his best man, but paid for the honeymoon - is there no honor among drug-dealing stool pigeons?
# Hes the son of poor immigrants from Cuba, and when he claimed on tape that his 74-year-old mom could spot a narc a mile away, that was the steroids talking again.
# In 2005, Kiko suffered a stroke brought on by overwork.

Kiko liked to mix work and pleasure, the way he did at the Boom-Boom Room. Featured attractions were drugs and hookers, both of which were available at popular prices.

Kikos not asking for any special treatment from the judge, you understand. Hed settle for what Toby Kerns got, only at Club Fed.

Of course, Kikos sentence will be harsher, but I doubt he gets the max. In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.

The conversation on the Radio-Info.com Boston board is intense, and no doubt it will keep up after he returns at 3pm today  returns home to his ex, after trying to escape to a new relationship with Greater Medias WTKK. The WRKO.com site featured a big Im baaaack splash page yesterday afternoon, and manager Julie Kahn praises Howie as a one-of-a-kind talent who now has a contract with WRKO all the way through 2012.

Howie came so close

If only hed waited to talk to Greater Media until his contract with Entercoms WRKO was over. Or - If only hed just waited to reveal his new deal with Greater Media until that contract was up. And if only Entercoms Julie Kahn (in Boston) and David Field (back in Philly) hadnt been so dead-set determined to keep him. There are probably a couple more if onlies that I havent thought of, but that opens up a lot of the ground. Howies side probably thought they were covered, legally, when they felt Entercom had missed a six-months-out window to negotiate back in the Spring. I think thats when they began to get serious with Greater Media about taking over the former Don Imus slot on WTKK (96.9). The Boston Heralds reported that five-year deal couldve been worth as much as $7 million over five years, if Howie hit all his ratings goals. But Howies absolutely essential to WRKO (billing-wise), and Entercom held on to him like a Survivor contestant during an immunity challenge. Entercom was also buoyed by the two rulings of Judge Allan Van Gestel, and the refusal of an appeals court judge to jump in. And frankly, Howies taken a lot of shots at The Powers That Be in Boston, and some of them saw a chance to get in a lick or two.
Greater Media strongly disagrees with Judge Van Gestel  but graciously bows out.

CEO Peter Smyth really wanted to win this one, and the affair wont be forgotten on either the Greater Media or Entercom side. Folks in Boston have long, long memories. But GMI says it understands Howies personal decision: To pursue what would likely have been a very long appeal with an uncertain outcome would have been counter-productive for Howie and his loyal listeners. Howie also has his family to think about. Anyone in his position would make the same decision. It is time to move forward. We wish him all the best. Ill bet you that Greater Medias Peter Smyth and market manager Phil Redo are also thinking: If only  And attorneys and agents around the country will be parsing the meaning of this case for a long time, since the right-to-match clause is pretty common in contracts. Im guessing that everybody drops the lawsuits (begun by Howie, to seek a clear path to his exit), and its back to work.

Boston radio host Howie Carr plans to return to his familiar seat behind the WRKO microphone today while rival WTKK will announce that shock jock Don Imus will be back on its airwaves next month - in the morning-drive slot that was set to go to Carr.

Carrs move back to his old afternoon-drive show on WRKO (680) comes four months after he dropped a bombshell and launched a legal battle to jump ship to WTKK (96.9).

Well get along fine, said Carr, who said he prefers to be on afternoons on WRKO but wouldnt elaborate. I worked there for two months after I announced I wasnt going to be there. It is what it is. Ill be fine.

I missed being on the radio, added Carr, who is also a Herald columnist.

WRKO said Carrs contract runs until 2012. Carr wouldnt discuss the details of his contract. When asked if WTKK was out of the picture forever, Carr said, Who knows what the future holds?

Carr has been off the air since September, the start of the crucial fall ratings period, and WRKO lost key listeners without its money-making star.

According to the first phase of the fall ratings released yesterday and obtained by the Herald, WRKOs afternoon-drive show with fill-in Todd Feinburg had a 2.7 share and was in 14th place among 25-to 54-year-olds. Last year at this time, Carr had a 3.9 share and ranked eighth.

Sources say WTKK plans to announce today that Imus new syndicated show will be added to its lineup next month. Less than a year after the nappy-headed hos scandal, Imus landed a radio show on New Yorks WABC-AM, which begins Dec. 3.

Carr had struck a deal in July worth up to $7 million with WTKK, but the courts blocked him from crossing town.

A statement from WTKK said the station is disappointed Carr wont be joining its lineup at this time.

Meanwhile, WRKO parent Entercom Vice President Julie Kahn said she was thrilled to have Carr back.

Howie’s first words back:
i’M BAAAACK! i’M BACK! There it is, the headphones are working a lot of improvements since I’ve been gone

I am in a striped shirt today, that’s an inside joke
won’t get into a lot of what went on
I have a 5 yr deal
The contract has been worked out to everyone’s mutual
satisfaction. We want to keep it on a positive note.

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